Just Right

by Juli Isola

Once upon a time there was a girl who thought she wasn't enough.

"I'm just not smart enough," she would say when she wasn't at the top of her class.

"Maybe I'm not pretty enough," she thought when she didn't get asked on dates.

"I must not be nice enough," she said when she didn't get invited to a party.

Other times she thought she was too much.

"I'm too fat," she would say when she looked in the mirror.

"I'm too tall, I laugh too much, I eat too much," were all thoughts that ran through the girl's head.

Her parents always said that she was just right but she didn't believe them. Her friends, her teachers, her community all told her she wasn't enough or she was too much by their comments, by their actions and by the things they valued.

Then the girl grew up. She went to college, got married and had two little girls of her own.

Still, even as a grown-up with a college degree, she thought she wasn't smart enough.

Even though she married a wonderful man who thought she was beautiful, she thought she wasn't pretty enough.

And, even though she had many friends and went to many parties she still thought she wasn't nice enough, sometimes.

All these thoughts made the woman work very hard and feel badly about herself and her life. She thought she had to live up to the high standards she set for herself and that she couldn't be herself because she just didn't measure up. She worried all the time.

Then one day she went to a new place. This new place had people that thought they were all quite enough, absolutely perfect in fact. They welcomed the woman to their place. One of those people was a wise and beautiful woman who spoke to the people and told them that "God is always perfect and you are an expression of God, so you are perfect just as you are."

Well, the woman who grew up believing she wasn't enough didn't believe that. She believed that the wise woman believed those things about God, but the woman's heart and mind were too busy believing what her past experiences had taught her.

Finally one day the woman looked at her daughter and saw the way her daughter's eyes sparkled with joy, love and happiness. And she saw God. Then the woman realized that if there was God in her daughter then surely there must be God in her too. And if that was true she must have been made by God for a very special purpose, so she began to believe what the wise woman said and listened some more.

Then the wise woman told her, "In God all things are possible."

Well the woman thought, "That can't be true." She started to think of all the reasons why she couldn't live her dreams. "I don't have enough money to live like the rich people do with nice new clothes, expensive trips and fancy restaurants. And I don't have enough time for hobbies and unpractical pursuits like writing a novel or going dancing. And I don't have enough resources for true peace in my life. And even if it were possible, I'm certainly not the most worthy," the woman told herself.

Then the wise woman taught her how to change her thinking. The wise woman instructed her to write positive statements about what she wanted in her life. And things started to change. The way she viewed the world started to change. Suddenly she began to believe that with God everything just might be possible.

Next, the wise woman taught her to write down all that she wanted to happen in a particular situation and write an affirmative prayer.

The woman wrote her prayers about small things at first and noticed that whatever she wanted appeared, whether it was a change of heart, a moment of peace or a nice new dress.

With each fulfillment of each prayer the woman began to believe more deeply in her heart that with God all things really are possible. She discovered that whatever she wanted was a thought from God and that with the right thinking and belief in the process it would appear.

Then one morning the woman woke up and noticed that the whole world seemed much brighter. Her heart felt much lighter. Her children seemed much more precious. Her husband seemed more loving. And the wise woman seemed even wiser.

She realized that she no longer worried about "enough" or "too much." The woman no longer cared about what happened in the past or worried about what might happen in the future. All the woman could think about was how happy, peaceful and joyous she felt right in that moment, because she believed totally and completely with all her heart that God is always perfect and she is an expression of God and in God all things are possible.

The End